Von Schweikert DB99 or Vandersteen 5A ??

I listened to both and have the 5a's I can't make the decision for you but the 5a's just had many more advanges like being tuned to the room working well with tubes because of the powered sub doesn't suck all your amplifer power more open sounding. Both are good speakers The Von Schweikerts are a little more harsh I think but some people like that.

I have heard both.

If I were to choose between the two, I would go with the Vandy 5's because of their ability to use whatever amp I wanted for the mids and highs and still have perfect bass (provided by the adjustable built in powered sub).

A friend in my music group owns Vandy 5's, powered by Wolcott Presence 220 watt mono blocks (tubes) for the top. Amazing dynamics and transparency and you can listen all evening without thinking about the gear.

What else could you ask for?

For those who have auditioned the VSA dB99's and know, its 10" magnesium woofer is driven by its own 300-watt Class A/B SS amp and can be adjusted (using its bass volume control knob) to any room or system. A 15wpc SET amp or 500wpc SS amp (or anything in between)to drive this speaker will do! See the VSA VR9 drivers as they mirror the 99's minus a 15" woof. The dB99's now come with optional 3" ribbon tweeter module. Contact VSA to find the nearest dealer stocking the dB99's and compare them to the Vandy 5/5A's if possible. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. You'll have a few bucks left over too! Nothing beats a personal audition.

Much has been said about the virtues of the 5As. One thing that sold me on them is that I could not "hear" any artifacts of the cabinet, drivers, or crossovers. These speakers are very natural - and the music is incredibly suspended in space with total tranparency and absolute coherence. Many who are used to artifacts like cabinet resonance, cone distortion, crossover nonlinearities, phase reversals, etc., believe something is missing when they don't hear them in the 5As. Many report their first reaction to the 5As as "too layed back". However, once you are acclimated to the 5As, you will start to really notice these objectionable artifacts in other speakers and wonder how anyone could tolerate them. The end result is you are better able to be with the music, since you are less aware of the system. I do appreciate a variety of speakers and can enjoy them for their strengths, however, the only one I want to listen to for any extended period is the 5A.

I want to thank all you folks for such a fine array of answers !!